No empathy, humanity and transparency from Dial direct staff

I am very dissatisfied with the service I have received from Dial direct. I registered a claim with them on 14 December 2023 following the floods that are happening in KZN where houses, cars and people are being washed away.

I had a visit from their external building assessor who advised the damages on the house were related to subsidence(movement of land) but it was a policy exclusion. I did advise him I took out additional subsidence cover with Dial direct. I have read my policy document and this was an optional cover which I had opted to pay for when the cover for my building started. He advised there would also be an engineer sent out to my premises to conduct a further report on the remedial repairs.

I was sent an email requesting my building plans on 02/01/2024 which I sent through the same day. On 04/01/2024 I was sent an email stating I would get feedback on 08/01/2024 as the plans were sent to the building assessor and specialist(not sure in what field)

I did not get any feedback on the matter nor were my queries on the app and email responded to.

After my patience ran out living in a damaged building with my family and kids I called the call centre on 16/01/2024 only to be advised my claim was rejected on 08/01/2024 but I was never notified of this. Instead I was sent an email on 09/01/2024 that my claim was being being worked on intently(a very strange turn of events) the email is quoted "Kindly note that we are working intently on your claim, and we are currently finalizing the administration of your claim.

Currently we have scheduled your next update for the 11.01.2024 before close of business.

Kind regards

Namane Mogale

Claims Consultant Specialist

Claims

Tel: ***".

I was also told on this call that the reason for the rejection was the movement of land(subsidence) which I was paying an additional amount to have covered. The conclusion was based on the building assessor's report to the same effect. I requested a copy of this report.

I was advised the report was not attached on the system and that the agent handling my claim Namane Mogale would call me to discuss this and send the report to me by the end of business. It is the end of business 17/01/2024 still no call email or app message about this or report which they would have used to reject my claim.

I received a rejection letter which does not detail exactly why they rejecting and I quote this as follows " This decision had to be made because of the following:

Various factors have a significant influence on a number of key areas in your insurance policy. If there are differences between the details of your claim and your contract, it means that we were not given an opportunity to do full and proper underwriting for you. This includes accurately evaluating your risk, deciding on acceptance, giving the most suitable cover, charging the correct premium and applying all the appropriate terms and conditions. Please review the details as provided by you on your schedule and ensure we have 16 January ***5 580 www.dialdirect.co.za

The event that caused the loss and damage is not an insured peril under your buildings policy. As stated in your policy book, your private home and outbuildings are covered for loss or damage caused by: 8. subsidence of land: if your schedule states that you are paying for this cover

Although your policy does include special additional cover for a range of incidents, your claim unfortunately falls outside the scope of these benefits too."

I'm not given any clarity of details, furthermore they imply I am to blame for their underwriting not being done correctly at the start of the policy.

"Various factors have a significant influence on a number of key areas in your insurance policy. If there are differences between the details of your claim and your contract, it means that we were not given an opportunity to do full and proper underwriting for you. This includes accurately evaluating your risk, deciding on acceptance, giving the most suitable cover, charging the correct premium and applying all the appropriate terms and conditions. Please review the details as provided by you on your schedule and ensure we have the most accurate information."

Again there is no explanation on what exactly they are talking about.

So I'm now expected to go through a dispute process which will take another 90 days while I pay a premium and stand a chance of the damages getting worse.

The funniest part is that they conclude their rejection letter by stating " We trust you agree with us that it is crucial to uphold all terms and conditions of your insurance contract because accurate claims settlement depends on it - and also that you understand why this plays such an important role ensuring that each and every customer is treated fairly."

That's such a joke coz none of what is happening is being fair to me. Next thing I will conduct the repairs myself and get told I did unauthorized repairs when I would be trying to prevent further loss.

Telesure is old in the industry and should really learn a thing or 2 from younger insurance companies that actually understand what treating us fairly means. Their staff that handle claims would display some humanity and empathy when dealing with claims as this agent who has never had the decency to respond to my messages or ever call me from start to finish in his handling of my claim is a sign of disregard for my hard earned money I pay for a claims service. The only thing I buy from them is the service of claiming but now at claims stage I must realize how much it sucks.